Book it and wrap it up. Many family members are getting one of the best surprises this cold holiday season – a winter getaway. “There are some people surprising kids and family members with a vacation as a stocking stuffer,” says Anthony Nuznam from Trafalgar Tours.

Instead of just sitting at home and relaxing for two weeks, you can change your holiday rituals by relaxing on a beach in Jamaica with a frothy drink, or a cocoa by the fireplace in Whistler instead. The holidays are a great time to travel so you can break those monotonous holiday plans and heat things up… or cool them down, depending on where you’re going.

But you’re probably wondering how you can afford a vacation with all your holiday expenses rung up on that dreaded Visa bill that you’re probably wincing at right about now. Christmas is peak travel time and flying can get pretty expensive, but there are great last-minute deals and packages still available and wallet-friendly. 

Fun with Parkas and Snow
Vacationing in Canada instead of heading somewhere hot is not the end of the world.  There are breathtaking winter wonderlands that you can visit right here in the Great North that are just as fun and can warm you up in exactly the right places.

A vacation to Mont Tremblant this holiday won’t burn a hole through your pockets. This holiday retreat in Quebec can be a good road-trip vacation for those in surrounding provinces. It has intense mountains to ski, snowboard and tube on, skating, dog sledding, quaint shops to find deals on winter apparel and gear, bakeries, chocolate factories, and who can forget about beaver tails? La Tour Des Voyageurs of Les Suites Tremblant is a fabulous hotel that is giving a 15% discount on a one-bedroom with a queen bed. The room, available for three nights from Dec. 27-30, is going for $296.65 CAD per night. 

If you do feel like splurging this holiday and are looking for a really cool place to visit, it would, hands down, be the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden.  It is a hotel built of ice and snow, where you can actually sleep in a thermal sleeping bag in -5 C temperature and enjoy the Northern lights, snowmobiling and reindeer sled tours.  For the modern adventurer, rooming at an ice hotel would be an experience unlike any other hotel stay you’ve had. Three nights, from Dec. 30-Jan. 2, would cost $1974.39 CAD.

Suiting up for the Beach, not the Slopes
How many times do you have to shovel the driveway, pick off the ice from your vehicle and be stuck in a blizzard on the highway? Probably more than you can count on one hand so far. Even though it is nice to embrace the snow and all that it can offer, it can also be nice to escape it during the holidays. “Everyone goes down to the Caribbean,” says Nuznam.

There are some last-minute all-inclusive vacation packages that go from being relatively cheap to really expensive. During the holidays prices go up, but an all-inclusive vacation to the four-star Oasis Resort in Cancun, Mexico for five nights costs $1565 CAD, which is an affordable deal from redtag.ca.

Another awesome location that is fun for the whole family is Bridgetown, Barbados, at the Mango Bay Resort and Spa. You do have to reach a little deeper in your pockets, but this place has been a hotspot for many international beach lovers. This five-star all-inclusive package, leaving on Dec. 28 for seven nights, is $3549 CAD and also available on redtag.ca. “They’re great values because they’re all new, all-inclusive and attractive properties. Plus there’s tons of water sports, the weather’s perfect and you’re in close proximity to everything,” says Nuznam.

Traveller’s tip: If you absolutely can’t get away during the holidays, January is an excellent month to travel because there are an abundance of flights that airlines and travel agencies are trying to get rid of. •